The Heart of Fire (89 page)
Forced onto a precarious span of rock, you realise there is no hope of escape. The beast is scuttling towards you, its entire belly ripping open into a fang-filled maw. It is time to fight:
Special abilities
Rock bluff: At the end of each combat round, Sitadell casts a ‘rock bluff’ spell increasing its
armour
by 2. If you win a combat round, instead of rolling for damage you can remove the spell, reducing Sitadell’s
armour
back to its starting value.
Body of rock: Your opponent is immune to
barbs
,
bleed
,
disease
,
fire aura
,
piercing
,
thorns
,
thorn cage
and
venom
.
Once Sitadell has been reduced to zero
health
, it begins to transform once again. Keep a note of your remaining
health
, then turn to
672
.
585
The succubus is a powerful adversary, blasting you with her dark magics while her mind-numbing powers sap at your strength, making your movements sluggish and weak.
Scowler falls quickly, her blow missing its mark and leaving her open to the creature’s magic. The ensuing bolt of fire spears the tigris as surely as any steel, dropping her to the ground
with a mournful cry.
‘You cannot defeat me!’ snarls the voice in your ears. ‘This marsh is mine!’
Alone, you are forced to defend yourself against the witch’s onslaught, giving ground to her powerful magics. Then, when all seems lost, you find some hidden reserve of strength – a
bitter fury that floods through your body, helping you to shrug off her debilitating spells. The witch senses this change, pausing in her attack.
‘Demon blood!’ the voice whispers.
Then you fly forward, driving your weapons into her tattered robes. There is a deafening shriek as a black wind pours out of the wound, blowing you backwards. You tumble over onto your stomach,
looking up in time to see the creature’s mildewed robes flutter to the ground. There is no sign of a body, only a thin maggot-like worm, dragging itself across the stones. You clamber to your
feet, marching forward to drive your weapons into its weakened form. There is a piercing, eldritch screech. Then there is silence . . .
At last the succubus’ power has been broken – and the marsh is now safe for the Shara Khana to cross. However, it feels a hollow victory, knowing that your tigris companions gave
their lives to achieve this end. Turn to
748
.
586
As you head deeper into the marsh, you start to notice droplets of green slime glistening on the ground. Everything around them is blackened and dead, as if the slimes
themselves are responsible for sucking the life out of the land. You give them a wide berth, particularly when you see several start to tremble and convulse as you get near.
Eventually the boggy ground gives way to a series of craters, filled with bubbling slime. You pick your way between them, finally coming to the edge of a larger depression. At its far side you
see a withered-looking tree shuffling back and forth, its roots dragging its wasted body through the blackened ash. From its bark and twisted boughs, green sap drips like tears onto the ground. You
ponder if the tree is the cause of this corruption, its blighted sap slowly destroying the forest around it. Drawing your weapons, you march down into the crater. As you do so, the tree lurches
around, its trunk splitting open into a jagged mouth. From its depths comes a gurgling roar – then it starts to shamble towards you, claw-like roots ripping through the dead soil. It is time
to fight:
Special abilities
Septic seepage: At the end of each combat round, the tree oozes a slime to attack you. This causes 1 damage at the
end of each combat round, ignoring
armour
. A new slime is released each round, increasing the damage by 1 each time.
If you manage to fell this blighted tree, turn to
709
.
587
If you have the word
explorer
on your hero sheet, turn to
623
. Otherwise, you find little else of interest in the monkey temple. To head
back into the ruins, turn to
667
. If you have already completed the dark interior quest, you may return to the quest
map
.
588
You race over to the weapon crates, hoping they might contain something useful. However, as you begin to prise open one of the lids you sense a movement behind you.
‘Thieving scum!’ A pair of bone-bladed swords cut through the air. Their aim and angle are perfect – intending to cleave you through with a single blow. But your instincts are
quicker than any falling blade. You spin aside at the last moment, hearing the sound of wood cracking beneath the weight of the swords. ‘Hey, where’d they . . .?’
Before your attacker can register what has happened you have slipped behind them, delivering a firm kick to their back and sending them flailing into a pile of boxes. ‘Used to slower
prey?’ you smirk.
The hunter springs to his feet, snarling like one of the beasts in the cages. He is an ugly-looking man, clad in sweat-stained leathers and a battered fedora. ‘Yer fight for them stinking
savages,’ he growls, advancing towards you. ‘That the case, yer can join them – I’ll add yer head to ma other trophies!’
You must fight:
Special abilities
Sniper fire: The sniper on the watch tower is firing bolts into the fight. Roll a die at the end of each round. If
the result is
or less, you are hit and must lose 3
health
, ignoring
armour
. If the result is
or more, then Zambezi is hit instead.
